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Among Hopefuls, Athens Has the History

ATHENS — Acrimony and name-calling among the five cities vying for the 2004 Summer Olympics reached an animated climax during the recent track and field world championships here, turning a merely competitive race into a highly contentious one.

The contending cities — Athens, Rome, Stockholm, Buenos Aires and Cape Town, South Africa — have entered the homestretch of the selection process, which concludes Sept. 5 when the International Olympic Committee meets in Lausanne, Switzerland.

If Athens viewed the nine-day world championships as an opportunity to gain ground on Rome, the apparent favorite to be awarded the Games, that city seemed to be waiting for Athens to stumble while the world was watching.

Overseeing the proceedings was Primo Nebiolo, in the unusual position of being both the president of track and field's international governing body and the honorary president of Rome's Olympic bid committee.

"He wanted the championships to come off well, yet not so well that Athens looked better than Rome," said James L. Easton, one of the IOC's 111 voting members. "He walked a fine line."

When crowds were small early during the world championships, Nebiolo chastised the Athens populace for vacationing at the sea instead of attending the competition. Later, after crowds increased, Nebiolo praised not the local organizing effort but his own International Amateur Athletic Federation. During the Closing Ceremonies, as Nebiolo presented medals to the marathon winners, he was loudly booed by the crowd.

The explosion of a bomb at Stockholm's empty Olympic Stadium two days before the conclusion of the world championships seemed to set off as much opportunistic political maneuvering in Athens as it did genuine concern worldwide.

There was speculation, fueled by Nebiolo, that fans were kept out of Panathaikon Stadium, where the marathon concluded that weekend, for security reasons related to the bombing. Athens officials, seeking to avoid the taint of security fears, vigorously denied such speculation.

All the while, with about 40 IOC members present, Athens tried to make a smashing impression with its handling of such a major event.

Crowds of about 45,000 during the first weekend increased to more than 70,000 on the last. Throughout, the Athens Olympic bid committee entertained reporters and officials poolside at the outdoor Olympic swimming center in the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. Police escorts led buses of athletes, officials and media members through the city's heavy traffic, minimizing delays. Security officials kept a 24-hour watch on each floor of every hotel used for the competition.

Athens lost in its bid to host last year's Centennial Games, but the city has drastically altered its approach to the 2004 campaign. In 1990, when the 1996 Olympics were awarded, Athens angered some IOC members with its arrogance: The city seemed to believe it deserved the Games simply by virtue of having been host to the first modern Olympics in 1896.

This time, Athens set out to earn the Games.

"This is a brand-new bid," said Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, president of the Athens 2004 group. "We have improved all aspects of the candidacy. Athens has become a new city because of all the progress on a small and large scale."

So concerned about the city's infamous pollution, which has blackened buildings and left a grimy stamp all over Athens, Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and her group commissioned four air quality studies. With $2.1 billion in improvements to the subway system expected to be ready by 2000 and a ring road under construction for 2001, officials say traffic in downtown Athens will be cut by 250,000 cars daily and air pollution reduced by 35 percent by 2004. Also, more than 70 percent of the athletic facilities needed to stage an Olympics already are in place, thanks largely to the work done for the 1996 bid.

IOC members, however, still express reservations about the city's ability to organize an Olympics. A city must receive a majority vote from IOC members to be awarded the Games. If no majority occurs on the first ballot, the city with the smallest number of votes is dropped and another ballot is taken. Cities are eliminated until one city ends up with a majority.

"When I was there, I was really impressed with their direction and enthusiasm, with their thinking on venues and how to do things," said Easton, of Van Nuys, Calif. "I think there will be a certain amount of sympathy vote for Athens because they are the home of the Olympic Games and all that. [But] I'm not sure that's going to carry the vote."

Dick Pound, an IOC official from Canada, said some members wonder whether the Athens government would take over for the bid committee if the city were awarded the Games.

Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, a 42-year-old lawyer and wife of shipping tycoon Theodore Angelopoulos who has underwritten the bid with much of her family's money, anticipates a $1.6 billion budget, guaranteed by the Greek government. She also said she expects to continue to be in charge.

"We've been loyal to the Games at the time they were born, revived and during every modern Olympic Games," she said. "For us, the Olympics is a way of life. We don't expect the Olympics to offer to our city -- we expect to give to the Games."

While Athens concentrated on wooing officials at the world championships, Stockholm was the most avid recruiter of athletes, selling them on the city's comfortable weather.

Carl Lewis, who did not compete in Athens, and Wilson Kipketer, the world record holder in the 800 meters, pledged allegiance to Stockholm's bid group. So did U.S. sprinters Maurice Greene and Jon Drummond and Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago.

Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie lobbied for Stockholm until he realized he had committed a political gaffe. Pressed on the issue, he endorsed Cape Town, which is hoping to become the site of the first Olympics staged in Africa, and Stockholm.

Rome hosted the Olympics in 1960. Stockholm had the Games in 1912. Athens hasn't had the Olympics since 1896. Neither Africa nor South America has put on an Olympic Games. Many consider Buenos Aires and Cape Town substantial longshots, but underdogs -- Atlanta in 1996 and Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994 -- have won before.

"I don't see a clear front-runner," said IOC member Carol Anne Letheren of Canada. "I see this as really vacillating."

Said Pound: "The stakes are enormous, not only for the people who have personally invested a number of years, but also it's important for the [winning] city. There will be a lot of Rolaids consumed by the bid committees in the next few weeks."